We have our annual 'against the wind' contest here because of lack of hills, this year they coincided with a 9 Beaufort wind which made for some interesting complications.

Hehe, that's so funny :)

So, some more context: swapfiets is the dutch student bike provider, they are very basic bikes, no gears, no nothing because what isn't on them can't break.

Key quote: "What do you miss the most about a racing bike?" -> "A slightly lighter gear".

He's doing remarkably well by the way, testimony to his skills, keeping up with those guys on their carbon frame racers with 22 gears is extremely impressive even over a short distance. The gearing on a typical swapfiets is typically 46/16 or 44/16 so ~3:1, on a racing bike you would have access to 36/23 or even 34/23 on a special climbing gear set. So he has to work about twice as hard to maintain the same speed.

Passing bike comments 'you're crazy man' :)

Hmm, that bike looks very much like Swapfiets' "Deluxe 7" model, which has a 7-gear hub, so not a single speed! The gears also explain why there are three wires leading to the handlebar (2 for the brakes + 1 for the gears).

Nevertheless, the lowest gear on that bike is still not much help on a steep ascend like this.